Nammazhvar

Nammazhvar, also spelled Nammalvar, (flourished 8th century ce, South India), South Indian poet-saint who was the most important and prolific of the Azhvars, Vaishnavite singers and poets whose works of ecstatic love and personal experience of God, written in the Tamilvernacular, popularized the bhakti (devotional) path.

Nammazhvar was born into a low Shudra caste and is said to have remained in a trance for the first 16 years of his life. Inspired by Krishna, he later composed four compilations of hymns or verses believed to contain the essence of the four Vedas and designed to provide the message of the Vedas in simple, comprehensible terms to the masses. These hymns were compiled into the Tiruvaymoli, which is sometimes known as the “Tamil Veda.” Nammazhvar claims in this work to be merely an instrument through which Krishna speaks about himself. Many of the hymns, however, are about the poet’s longing and love for God, often phrased in highly emotional and even ecstatic language. The poet often adopts the persona of one or another of Krishna’s erotic lovers. Bhakti here is presented as both a passive surrender to God and an active cultivation of the emotions that will lay the devotee open to God’s grace and presence.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Matt Stefon, Assistant Editor.